Best refurbishment

2001-11-16T00:00:00+00:00

UCL Cruciform

Key to the successful restoration of UCL's Victorian buildings was the development of a new brick, which matched the colour and texture of the originals. Ibstock manufactured the original non-imperial sized bricks, but as the clay pits have long since been worked out it had to spend five months developing a new match, using Etruria marl clay from Staffordshire.

In all, 200,000 bricks have been used to replace lost facades and reclad unsympathetic alterations to the buildings. Laid in a Flemish bond to match the existing building, numerous specially shaped bricks were used to replace damaged areas.

An impressive body of work, which involved the whole team of material suppliers, specifiers and contractors in a series of design challenges

A major extension to an important building, which is impressive for its attention to detailArchitect: Arup AssociatesMain contractor: Birse ConstructionStructural engineer: Arup AssociatesBrick: Ambion Wealdon London Multi Stock King’s House, King’s Road, Brighton

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